With more than 100 teams and thousands of players on hand in late June for the USSF Development Academy Showcase in Greensboro, NC, it might have been easy to miss a group of about a dozen observers attending the matches.

But the coaches and scouts with the U.S.F.C. SuperElite® traveling contingent weren't there to be noticed. They were the ones doing the noticing, as they ran the rule over some of the best available American playing talent for the purpose of identifying prospects to invite to their respective homelands for an opportunity of a lifetime.

What resulted was a hugely successful weekend of player prospecting, helping open doors for American players to a treasure chest of overseas opportunities.

Feedback was extremely positive.

"The European scouts and coaches were thrilled with the SuperElite® talent they observed," said U.S.F.C. Chairman Joseph Konowiecki. "They saw the event as a one-of-a-kind opportunity to give an intensive look at top American players, and they are already following up on that interest with many of those players."  Konowiecki continued, "In the long run, this will only raise the bar further for elite youth soccer in America."

"Without the help of U.S.F.C., if we come over here on our own, there' enough places to go, but we really don't know where to start," said PSV Eindhoven former player and current scout Ronald Wattereus (click to view video). "The important thing for U.S.F.C. is the pre-scouting that they've done. We're not too familiar with the players from over here and they are able to give us guidelines to tell us  ‘Have a look at this player, have a look at that team.' That's a very, very important role to be played, definitely."

Club Brugge's (Belgium) stadium

Members of the U.S.F.C. group represented clubs from Holland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and other European countries that the organization has worked with to build relationships. Their travel and daily schedule were arranged by U.S.F.C. staff.

While in Greensboro the coaches and scouts were taken to see players who had been scouted, evaluated and identified by U.S.F.C. personnel as potential prospects. U.S.F.C. Technical Director Don Ebert and Director of Scouting Jon Spencer had spent the last several months building a list of SuperElite® prospects while attending high-level competitive events around the country. Having compiled dossiers on the players and interacted with players and families about potential interest in traveling overseas, the U.S.F.C. staff then shepherded the European contingent through the event.

In addition to the daily schedule at the fields, U.S.F.C. staff spent extensive time discussing the international player development landscape with their European guests, as well as furthering an ongoing dialogue about revisions and improvements to the U.S.F.C. SuperElite system, which continues to engender enthusiasm among the coaches and scouts.

Jonas Wirmola (click to view video) of Swedish club Halmstads BK was enthusiastic about U.S.F.C.'s work.

"It's very helpful. It's very important to make sure the quality of player coincides with the growth of the game here," he said. "It's perfect and your professional staff has been perfect. There's no doubt the future is very bright for players from the United States."

"There's no doubt we have put a very good foot forward with the representatives of these top European clubs," U.S.F.C. Technical Director Don Ebert said. "They were very impressed with the standard of player we were showing to them. There's no question as to their continued and even increasing interest in our organization as someone who can help identify and present SuperElite® talent to them."

An informational meeting for families of top playing prospects was also held at U.S.F.C.'s host hotel in Greensboro. The robust discussion at that event serves as further confirmation of the intense interest in overseas opportunities among American soccer families.

The event represents another threshold crossed as U.S.F.C. continues to establish itself as the leading voice of youth soccer in America.

Luc Sanders (click to view video) of Belgian giants Club Brugge, echoed the positive remarks.

"It's a great opportunity to see these players," he said. "Otherwise how could we find the players we want to look at from 64 teams or more? It's not that easy to find them but we've seen some here so it's good for us what you're doing."

For the complete interviews, click on the links below:

Ronald Wattereus

Jonas Wirmola

Luc Sanders

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